The Electric Car: Can We Plug in Now?

Chris Paine signs DVDs of his award-winning documentary “Who Killed The Electric Car?” following a lecture at the Baker Institute.

The electric car has found its time. That’s according to Chris Paine, director of the hit documentary movie, “Who Killed The Electric Car?” Paine lectured and signed DVDs this week at a Baker Institute Energy Forum event as part of the Shell Distinguished Lecture Series. Transportation experts, including Dan Sperling, co-author of “Two Billion Cars,” agree. They argue that the automotive industry has already moved to electric drive-train technology and efficient regenerative braking that can capture energy that would be lost in a traditional vehicle. Electrification, like computerization of cars before it, is just a matter of time, they contend. Wooing the audience with photos of his own high-performance electric car, the Tesla Roadster, Paine made the case that electric cars would win the battle for the streets and noted that plugging in today is cheaper on a fuel per mile basis than filling up.

Interestingly, Paine never intended to become an activist and spokesperson for Californian’s drive to electric vehicles. Instead, he originally planned to make a film about how people in Los Angeles make funerals for their cars. But the process of film making is organic, he explained, and the movie’s focus shifted over time. He is currently making a new film, “Revenge of the Electric Car,” that will feature hot new designs coming off the shelf in China and the United States.

Will we really be plugging in soon? Paine notes that super investor Warren Buffet apparently thinks so. Buffet recently took a 10 percent stake in BYD, run by Chinese entrepreneur Wang Chuan-Fu. So while I call my stockbroker to see if BYD is listed on a Western stock exchange, power up to the electric car mindset by watching a webcast of Paine’s lecture.